Love In The Shooting Range
by arieshades
Summary: What if someone volunteered to take Peeta's place in the hunger games and Katniss didn't survive? Both Peeta and Gale find another interest. PxOC, GxOC. Lemons later on!
1. Just a Dream

_**This is my first Hunger Games Fanfic so be gentle with me. - with all my love, ArieShades 3**_

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"Run, Daddy!" I scream. But he doesn't seem to acknowledge my terror and pleading. He looks at me as if I'm simply saying good-bye and returns it with a wave. He walks straight into the mouth of the mine which is engulfed in thick blue and white flames with smoke so dark and potent that it's ashy trendils seem to catch in my throat and choke me. I watch in terror as the flames melt his flesh, and muscle.

"Aundrea!" I hear him screaming in a horrible choked shriek

"Aundrea!" but now it's Peeta's voice. _Peeta?_ I think, _what's he doing here?_

This question pulls me from my horrific nightmare and my eyes snap open to see Peeta looking down at me with his penetrating blue eyes, which now, seem filled with absolute panic. The moonlight from the window reflects off of his blonde lashes, and they seem to go on for miles and miles. His grip on my shoulders is tight and clammy.

I swallow hard. "It was just a dream." And then I realize, no…not really. My father did die in that mine explosion that wiped out a lot of people's parents. I didn't see it, because there was nothing to see but the side of the mountain exploding and the same black smoke from my dreams, no…nightmares.

Tears well in my eyes, and I can't hold it back. I start choking on sobs, and Peeta wraps his arms around me. He's always silent after he wakes me from my nightmares. I've always wondered why, but never ask during the day because I don't want to bring up my weakness, and at night I'm too terrified to speak.

"I need to go." I mumbled through lips swollen from crying.

He gives a small nod and releases me from his grasp. I run to my small pile of clothes, and slip things on at random, desperate to get out, to run from my fears, to run from Peeta's kindness, to run from the weakness I hold.

I run. I run out of the house in town, I run past my old house, and I run even faster past the mines, I run to the fence and slide under it. I run into the woods and don't look back, and I run and run and run. Finally, I stop. I must be six miles deep, and I don't care. The isolation comforts me.

I think about my life, and how it's never just been easy for me:

I was a seam kid, but I always looked like a person from town. My mother had blonde hair, and green eyes, which she passed on to me. My father was from the seam though, and he had the trade mark gray eyes, olive tone skin, and straight black hair. My mother died when I was five, leaving my father to fend for him and me. I missed my mother but life wasn't bad for us. Sure, sometimes we went to bed hungry but we got by better than most in the seam. Many families had at least seven children, and even with two working parents, they couldn't pull off enough money to feed them. But when my father died in the mine explosion a few months back, my life was shot right to hell. So many had been orphaned by that explosion that the orphanage was full, so they began taking kids door to door, offering people extra money if they took one of us in. That's how I wound up in the baker's care.

Cray, the Peacemaker, had taken us on to the doorstep. When he made the baker the bargain, I was waiting for another rejection when he just said. "Give me that one."

It took me a second to register that he was pointing at me. Cray, smiled and said "Ahh, a smart pick my good man."

I was ushered into the bakery, and sat on a stool. The baker paced about and I was very confused. Why me?

Then as if he was reading my thoughts, he answered my question. "I knew your mother. You're Addie and Devlin's daughter."

I nodded, not really sure how else to respond.

"Your mother was one of my best friends growing up. Her family owned the fabric shop, and mine owned this bakery. Everyone thought we'd get married one day, because we were so close. But when she met your father, I knew she was in love and I wasn't the least bit shocked when she gave up town life to follow him to the seam."

I just stared at him. I didn't know what else to do or say. I never pictured my mother with anyone else than my father, and it was strange to think that I might have ended up being the bakers' daughter.

He shakes his head. "I have no clue why I'm telling you any of this." He straightens up from leaning over the counter. "But I guess I should tell you about your new home, which is-"and he points up. I knew this, most shop keepers lived over their businesses. "I have 3 sons, Kardin, Jordy, and Peeta. My wife, Rocky, may be a little…harder to get a long with than the rest of us but if she gives you any trouble just inform me. Also, she won't be happy that you're my ex-girlfriend's daughter so you have it twice as bad." Then he turns around and yells "BOYS! Come meet our newest member of the house!" Jordy and Kardin introduced themselves, and they were both tall and skinny, with big noses and strawberry blonde hair, with serious cases of acne. Peeta, well he didn't have to introduce himself. Peeta was the boy that, Along side Gale Hawthorne, all the girls drooled over. Peeta was muscular, quiet, and was the just the picture of absolute beauty. I heard he had had a thing for Katniss Everdeen, a girl I'm friends with…or well, used to be.

Katniss Everdeen was a tribute in the 74th annual Hunger Games, she volunteered to take the place of her twelve year old sister, Primrose. Peeta's name got called right after hers but a strong burly fellow that's parents had died, and lived in the orphanage volunteered for him. Katniss was a friend of mine and I got to say goodbye to her, and that happened to be how I met Gale Hawthorne, but I'll get to that later. The boy wasn't much of a fighter and he didn't try, we all know he didn't volunteer to spare Peeta. He Volunteered to end his own life. So no one was really shocked when he died in the battle at the cornucopia in the first half an hour of the Games. But Katniss was a fighter, like most from the seam, she knew how to survive. But when she fell 40 stories out of a tree, there was nothing any amount of fighting could do. You could even hear her neck snap.

Back to Peeta, he just gave me an acknowledging nod. I could practically hear his thoughts "_oh great, the weakling from gym class. Terrific."_

I snap out of my reverie when I hear the sharp snap of a branch under someones foot. I stand, in a crouched position, the hunting knife of Katniss's that was given to me by her sister, poised in hand, ready to attack at a moments notice.

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_**Who is it? read the next chapter and find out! :D**_


	2. Nightmares & Prayers

_**Chapter 2. :) **_

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Chapter 2

Gale stares at me with his deep gray eyes and I let my hand relax my grip on the knife a bit.

"Well, it's nice to see you too." He says, his eyes flickering to the knife.

I stand up straight and drop my weapon. "What are you doing out here?" I sigh.

He raises one eyebrow. "Shouldn't I be asking _you_ that question?" but in answer to my question he holds out his game bag and it looks lumpy and blood, full with what he caught in his ingenious snares. "Now, " he slings the bag back onto his shoulder. "What are you doing out here, darling? Shouldn't you be getting some form of beauty sleep?"

I roll my eyes. "I couldn't sleep if my life depended on it."

He sits on the log beside me. "Nightmares?"

I give him a look, and he puts his arms around my shoulders. "Don't worry, they go away over time."

Gale knows better than anyone about the nightmares, except maybe Katniss, but she's dead now. Gales father, my father, and Katniss's father all died in the same mine explosion. I know Gale would've taken me under his wing if he could've but he had 4 mouths to feed with his father gone and no income except the meager wages his mother made washing clothes.

I had met Gale in saying goodbye to Katniss. I had gone in, giving her a hug and promising her I would make sure her mother and Prim were fed and doing alright. She thanked me and I told her what an honor it was to know such a brave girl, and I left teary eyed. But it was nothing compared to how Gale was after he came out of the room.

He walked over and stood in front of me, and we were the only ones in the waiting room. Everyone else had disappeared from this omnipresent gloom. He leaned on a wooden chair with red velvet padding on the seat and back. His breathing was rough and choppy, and I could tell he was holding back tears. I was about to get up to calm him but he abruptly lifted the chair and threw it with so much force into the wall that it looked like a blur right before it exploded into thousands of pieces. He flipped over the table, breaking all the pretty china and glass candle holders. He was just getting ready to punch out a window when I jumped in his way. The fury and tears were present on his face now.

"Gale." I whisper through a throat tight, trying to hold back a sob.

"I can't save her." He sobbed. "I can't save her." And then he backed into a wall, slumped down, buried his face in his hands and cried like I've never seen or heard a man cry before.

I sat beside him and let him cry, rubbing his shoulders gently. Tears poured down my own face, but I had to be strong so I could help him.

After a long while of sobbing uncontrollably he looks at me, and his eyes are wet and swollen red from all the crying. "I loved her, you know."

I did know, everyone with eyes knew. Gale Hawthorne was head over heels inexplicably in love with Katniss Everdeen. I just smiled and gave a small nod. "It's going to be okay. She could win."

Of course, she didn't win that year. Cato from district 2 won. Another career, of course. The moment I heard the cannon signaling Katniss's death, I ran full speed to Gale's house. I found him, bottle of white liquor clutched in his hands in the corner, as his little brothers and sister bawled for the loss of their family friend. I looked to Hazelle, Gale's mother, and she just shook her head. "This life is so cruel."

I couldn't agree more. I went and sat in front of Gale, prying the half drained bottle from his fingers. "She's gone, Aundrea. She's gone." He said, and then just when I thought he was going to break down again, he stood and ran from the house, a little sloppily because I think he was partially drunk.

Hazelle grabbed my arm as I followed after him. "Thank you for being here. He needs you."

I nodded, and sprinted out the door after him. I found him in Katniss's home, with Prim sitting on his lap, her crying into his shirt as he soothes her. He looks nothing like the sobbing boy I saw in the Justice Building, he doesn't even look like the boy that was clinging to his bottle of alcohol in the corner. He looks strong and ready to help the mourning people, especially Katniss's family. Her mother was sitting on the couch, in a state of shock I think.

"What're you thinking about so deeply?" Gale questions. I wait for a blonde joke, but it doesn't come.

"Katniss." I whisper. I hear his sharp intake of breath and I know automatically that I just should've kept my mouth shut. "I'm sorry." I apologize, trying to fix what I've already screwed up.

"It's okay. There's nothing anyone can do to bring her back." We sit quietly for a moment. Then unexpectedly, I hear Gale laugh.

I look over at him, completely puzzled and he says "I just thought of a challenge that I don't think even I can conquer." He says between laughs. I raise one eyebrow. "I'm going to teach you how to hunt."

I look up at the sky and realize it must be almost ten in the morning and Peeta will be missing me. "Let's save that for tomorrow. I have to get back to the bakery." I don't call it my home because as much as I appreciate what the Mellark's did for me, my home is still in the Seam: where I took my first steps, and said my first words.

Gale smiles a dazzling smile that sends my heart into oblivion, and I don't know why. Of course, he's gorgeous but there's something about knowing that that smile is all for me that makes it really hard not to swoon.

He stands and we trek out of the woods chatting about just about everything when Gale says. "You know, my mom told me something that I never knew."

"what's that?" I ask, pulling my jacket tighter around me in the chilly autumn air.

"Did you know, back before the Dark Days, and before all the war and famine, that people actually believed that there was life after death? And that there was a supreme ruler of this place called heaven, and they called him God. They thought it was this amazing place, where the streets were made of gold, and these things called Angels, which were humans with big wings, flew around. But there was also a place called hell, and that's where all what they called "sinners" were to go. Sins were like lying or killing someone, and hell was a place of fire and nightmares ruled by the devil." He says, as serious as can be.

I stare off into space, and think about that. The possibility of life after death just rocks my brain, and I'm having a hard time imagining some fellow in the sky judging peoples lives to if they did right and wrong. "Do you think it's possible?" I whisper, finally.

"I don't know. I don't _think_ it is. But I could see why people invented it. Can you imagine the hope people would have? Thinking that once your loved ones died, you'd see them again when you died? Think about it Aundrea, we'd all have our fathers back. We'd have Katniss back." And that's when I see the tears, and these are tears of a different kind. They're full of hope, but knowing it's a hopeless cause. Hope that everything were that easy. Hope that we'll see the people we love again.

I step in front of him so he can't walk anymore. "Look at me." I say in a pleading tone. And a tear drop drops from his cheek and on to my lips, and for some odd reason, this sends a shiver of pleasure coursing through my body. _Where had that come from? _I think, but before I have time to react, Gale's lips are attacking mine and I'm excepting it. But it feels all wrong. I'm kissing him but all I can see is Peeta's face in my mind. But when he pulls me into his chest and kisses me with more ferocity, I completely forget about Peeta. Gale's lips are so soft, and the stubble on his chin rubs in a way that almost comforts me. I reach up to tangle my fingers in his hair and I'm gifted with a muffled moan that echoes in my mouth. There's a fire inside me, a burning need that I've never felt before, I feel my mouth increase in speed with his and he doesn't object. Why had I never seen it before? Gale Hawthorne has been what I've always wanted. Why hadn't I seen it?

"Oh, Katniss." He moans.

My lips freeze, my eyes snap open, my heart drops like lead to the pit of my stomach. No I remember why I hadn't seen it. Because Gale never wanted me, he wanted a dead girl. I feel fury build inside me. All of this happens in a matter of seconds. I yank away from his grip, and he looks at me confused. Then he realizes what he said.

"Aundrea..i didn't mean to.."

But I don't have time to hear him, because I'm already sprinting off through the woods and back to my safe haven. Back to Peeta. Back to the place that will never be my home but it will have to suffice.

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_**tsk, tsk, tsk...what will peeta have to say? This goes to the song Fever Dream by Iron & Wine. :) REVIEW PLEASE! -With all my love, ArieShades**_


	3. Purple Icing & Fear

**_Read, Review, favorite. I don't care. :) just please do one! -With all my love, Arieshades_**

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**Chapter 3**

I burst in the bakery door, and run back to the ovens. "PEETA!" I scream.

"AHH!" I hear him scream and then a big thud. "Yes, Aundrea?" he says rubbing the spot on his head where he banged it off the top of the oven.

"Did I scare you?" I laugh. Then I realize I'm still pissed off.

"A little bit." Then he registers my facial expression. "Oh boy. What'd Hawthorne do to get you as mad as hornet?"

I'm about to spew the story but then I think. "Wait. How'd you know I was with Gale?"

"Is your little thing you two have going on supposed to be a secret? Because if so, you two do a very poor job at hiding it." He says, laying a fresh baked loaf of bread on the table and slicing it. It's his famous strawberry and banana nut swirl bread. I snatch a piece and take a bite out of it before he can try to get it back from me.

He narrows his eyes at me, then smiles that adorable smile of his. It's nothing like Gales. Gale's is seductive and sexy and mysterious. But Peeta's smile is the product of a warm heart, boyish charm, and the natural sweetness that flowers inside of him. "So spill…tell me everything."

"First of all," I say after I swallow my bite of bread. "Gale and I are nothing. But today, something unexplained happened. He kissed me, and you know it felt all right and stuff and then out of no where, he moans 'oh katniss.'"

At the mention of her, he stiffens for a second. He snaps out of it and says. "well you always knew they had a thing for each other. She's dead now. He never really got to express how he loved her. Maybe the kiss triggered some kind of hidden emotion he couldn't control."

I roll my eyes, leave it to Peeta to make a way to defend him.

"Hey! I saw that!" he says. "Listen, all I'm saying is that you know maybe Gale hasn't really gotten over Katniss." He tosses me an apron and I don it without really thinking too much about what we've discussed. Cup cakes need iced, cookies need baked, dough needs to be kneaded. Peeta and I ice the cupcakes together and his always look a thousand time prettier than mine.

About an hour into the silence, it starts to rain outside and we both glance out the window. The bakery has a cozyness to it. It's always warm, and carries the ever present aroma of fresh baked bread. It's the kind of thing I find most exciting about this place. Although I loved the seam dearly, our house always leaked and in the winter time it was never quite warm enough because of the air seeping in through the cracks around the windows.

As if he was reading my thoughts Peeta looks at me. "Do you ever miss home?"

I sigh and focus on my cupcake as I answer him. "Yeah, but then I just have to remember that there's nothing left for me there and everyone I loved is dead."

Peeta gives me a sideways glance and Ignore it and stay focused on my cupcake. "Kind of a negative way of thinking, isn't it?"

I don't answer. Finally, I muster up the courage to ask. "Peeta, why do you always come when I scream in the middle of the night? You know it's nightmares."

I see him blush. "Because I want to wake you. Comfort you. No one should have dreams that make them scream like that."

"but you never say anything, you just watch me fall back asleep."

"I don't know what _to_ say. I feel terrible, that you have to suffer those horrors like that. I have no clue why I come in there because I have ever intention of making you feel better but the only thing I do is wake you up and make you realize that whatever your dreaming about, I'm guessing it's your dad dying in the mines because you scream about him, it's a reality. And I feel like such an _idiot_." He squeezes the bag of purple icing in his hands a little to roughly because it promptly explodes all over the both of us. We stand there for a moment and then burst out laughing just as the TV crackles to life.

I look at the TV in confusion and I see President Snow appear on the screen. Peeta's breathing turns shallow, and if this weren't such a serious moment, I would've laughed at him. Standing there, as serious as can be, splattered in purple icing. "The Quarter Quell." Peeta breathes.

Then it's my turn to panic. My heart pounds in my chest and I think about watching people I know get slaughtered in the arena every year. But this year, it will be worse. Because for the people of the capitol, the Quarter Quell is a twist on an already inthralling program. But for people in the districts, it means more pain, and suffering.

"This year, is the 75th annual Hunger Games, so it's time for yet another Quarter Quell. " the president says, pulling a piece of paper from a envelope yellowed by years of waiting. "This year, to remind the rebel restince that the Capitol can break even family ties, we're sending in twice as many tributes. A boy shall be called and he must bring a sibling up with him, as for the girls and so on and so forth. Happy Hunger Games, Panem. And may the odds be ever in your favor."

The TV shuts off, and we're all just staring at it now. Rocky, Melvin, Peeta, Kardin, Jordy, and I are so heartsick and dumbfounded that we just stand there. Peeta and I have it the worst because we'r e the only two from this house hold that are still eligible for the Hunger Games. I feel my knees buckle and I sink to the floor.

Peeta snaps out of his trance and quickly joins me on the floor, his arms around me, rocking me back and forth as I sob. "It won't be us. There are thousands of other families in the district."

"Peeta," I whisper. "before my father died, I had to take out tesserae too many times to count. My name is on at least a 50 of those slips. The odds aren't in my favor, and because you and I live together now and are the only ones eligible for the games, they aren't in your favor either." I bury my face in my hands.

"No. You can't think like that." He says, but he sounds a little resigned himself.

After a few minutes of crying, I wipe my eyes. I'm ashamed of my cowardess. "Your right. I'm being a baby." I laugh still sniffling.

"well you look like one too." He says taking his finger and getting a glob of partially hardened purple icing off of my face. "a very messy one." He says and licks the icing off of his finger.

I smile because Peeta always says just the right things. And for a split second I think of how Peeta would've been had Trustin Betradoe not volunteered to take his place in the Games. Would he turn into a blood-starve beast like most decent people do in the Games? But I push the thought from my head, because Peeta could never be that way. Peeta could never be savage. Or so I hoped.


End file.
